Comparing traditional and flipped classrooms in teaching block-based programming: effects on fifth-graders’ self-efficacy towards computational thinking skills, conceptual learning, and their perspectives

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of two teaching methods – face-to-face traditional teaching and the flipped classroom model – on fifth-grade students’ self-efficacy towards computational thinking skills, conceptual learning, and perspectives on programming within a block-based environment. Seventy-seven students participated in this mixed-method research with an exploratory sequential design. The quasi-experimental phase involved administering the Self-Efficacy Perception Scale for Computational Thinking Skills as a pretest and posttest to both experimental and control groups, along with weekly achievement tests during the treatment. Additionally, focus group interviews were conducted with 24 students after the treatment. The findings revealed that students in both groups improved their conceptual learning and self-efficacy in computational thinking. Moreover, both groups reported that discovery learning was particularly effective in enhancing their game and animation design skills during the treatment.